The Red Sox are looking to start a miracle run to the trade deadline Monday night as they take on Scott Feldman and the Texas Rangers.
We'll keep you up-to-date on all the action as it goes down in Arlington.
Rangers 9, Red Sox 1, End 8th -- Mark Melancon goes back to work lowering his ERA after his unlucky outing against the Jays. A 1-2-3 frame sends the game to the ninth in a hurry.
Rangers 9, Red Sox 1, Mid 8th -- A Dustin Pedroia single is all the Sox get in the eighth as Feldman finally is out of the game. Ironically, Pedroia is the only one who doesn't do much work at the plate, simply putting the first pitch he saw into play.
Rangers 9, Red Sox 1, End 7th -- Morales makes clean work of things in the seventh, striking out two batters in a 1-2-3 frame.
Rangers 9, Red Sox 1, Mid 7th -- The Red Sox and Rangers wait through a replay delay as Jarrod Saltalamacchia's double off the top of the wall remains a double. The Sox then fail to bring him across, with two ground outs and a pop-out leaving them without a run in the seventh.
Rangers 9, Red Sox 1, End 6th -- Well, at least we can all put this one in the book now. Mike Napoli takes a two-run shot to deep left off of Felix Doubront before Franklin Morales the wrongfully converted comes in to show why you don't take a guy who's having success in the rotation and send him back to the bullpen after one month. The Rangers push across three more before the inning is over, effectively sealing this one.
Rangers 4, Red Sox 1, Mid 6th -- Another one-baserunner inning for the Red Sox, this time with Dustin Pedroia reaching on a leadoff single before getting caught stealing to end the inning with Jarrod Saltalamacchia at the plate. Depressing baseball, this.
Rangers 4, Red Sox 1, End 5th -- Another 1-2-3 inning for Doubront keeps the Red Sox within striking distance of the Rangers. Now if they would just get around to hitting the guy with the 5.89 ERA...
Rangers 4, Red Sox 1, Mid 5th -- The good news is that Jacoby Ellsbury just keeps on hitting, lacing a single into left field. The bad news is that no other Red Sox see fit to follow suit, leaving them still with just the one run through five frames of work.
Rangers 4, Red Sox 1, End 4th -- Ian Kinsler doubles off Doubront, but luckily it comes after the lefty picked up two outs against the bottom of the lineup, allowing him to end the frame with an Elvis Andrus ground ball.
Rangers 4, Red Sox 1, Mid 4th -- The Red Sox respond to Texas' big inning...by having the heart-of-the-order go 1-2-3. This is about as uninspiring as performances get against Scott Feldman.
Rangers 4, Red Sox 1, End 3rd -- About two months ago, Felix Doubront's starts took a turn for the worse. The reason isn't hard to figure out: he's a young starter who was pulled back-and-forth between the rotation and bullpen a year ago, the stamina just isn't there this year. He's hit the proverbial wall.
The Sox, however, either don't recognize this, or don't want to acknowledge it, and the result is mediocre outing after mediocre outing. This one was easy to see coming given that he'd been saved by Will Middlebrooks' defense in the first and barely avoided damage in the second, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch. Sandwiched around a walk, Mike Aviles and Dustin Pedroia do good jobs just to get to a pair of sharply hit infield singles, but are unable to throw out either Craig Gentry or Elvis Andrus. With Pedroia overthrowing Gonzalez on the second play, the Rangers are able to score both runners from second and third, giving them the 2-1 lead.
After that, it's a double to the corner from Josh Hamilton that scores the third, and then a Michael Young line drive single that puts the Rangers ahead 4-1. Doubront has hit the wall.
Red Sox 1, Rangers 0, Mid 3rd -- A chance to build on their lead goes by the wayside for the Red Sox in the third. A sharp hit with one out from Jacoby Ellsbury knocked off Feldman, allowing the center fielder to reach first and then move to third on a two-out single past the first base bag from Dustin Pedroia. The Sox had Adrian Gonzalez, the AL player of the week and one of the best in the league with RISP at the plate, but in the end all they got was an inning-ending pop-up.
Red Sox 1, Rangers 0, End 2nd -- Felix Doubront works himself out of a jam after Adrian Beltre flared a double just barely fair down the left field line. A ground ball from Michael Young moved Hamilton to third, causing Doubront to pitch around Nelson Cruz, eventually surrendering a walk on a full count. After that, though, it was all attack. Three pitches got him a strikeout of Mike Napoli, and four more see Brandon Snyder off looking at strike three, ending the inning.
Red Sox 1, Rangers 0, Mid 2nd -- A couple of Red Sox are enjoying their return to familiar locales. With two outs, Jarrod Saltalamacchia takes it to his former team, launching a solo shot to right field as Feldman's fly ball issues show up in the second inning. Right behind him comes Will Middlebrooks, who has spent most of his life in the area. While Middlebrooks doesn't quite manage to take Feldman's offering, low-and-away, into the seats, he makes Nelson Cruz attempt a leaping grab at the wall, and Cruz can't hold on after getting the ball in the glove, allowing Middlebrooks to make his way to second before a Ryan Sweeney ground ball ended the threat.
Red Sox 0, Rangers 0, End 1st -- Ian Kinsler leads off the frame with a bloop single, putting bad memories of disaster firsts into the minds of Red Sox fans. And, when Elvis Andrus managed to hit a 1-2 curveball on the screws, it certainly made for a scary half-second between the time the ball left the bat, and the moment Will Middlebrooks, leaping high in the air, managed to pull the ball down on the fly and throw to first to double up Kinsler. Perhaps invigorated by the defensive efforts behind him, Felix Doubront proceeded to get Josh Hamilton swinging at a changeup to end the frame.
Red Sox 0, Rangers 0, Mid 1st -- Up against a pitcher like Scott "Hanging Sinker" Feldman, a first-inning run still can't necessarily be expected, but it would have been nice to see. What can be expected is an inning that lasts longer than 11 pitches, and maybe one free of strikeouts on pitches in the dirt.
No such luck for the Red Sox, however. Jacoby Ellsbury makes the first out on the second pitch of the game, getting decent contact but getting too much loft on the ball to keep Josh Hamilton from settling underneath it. Carl Crawford is the victim of the ball-in-dirt strikeout, chasing a 1-2 curve before Dustin Pedroia hit a relatively easy fly to right to end the frame.